China launches record-breaking UAV swarm

[Cookie Monster]

The China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) claims to have set a new record for the number of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) flying in a swarm, the state-owned Xinhua news agency quoted the corporation as saying.

The 11 June news report states that the swarm comprised 119 UAVs, breaking CETC's previous record swarm of 67 UAVs. Xinhua did not mention when or where the event took place.

The size of the mini UAV swarm is greater than that trialled by the US Air Force in October 2016 when three Boeing F/A-18 Hornets deployed a swarm of 103 Perdix micro UAVs, which the US Department of Defense noted was one of the world's largest micro UAV swarms to date.

CETC published a video in 2016 of its fixed-wing UAV swarm prototype, which shows the UAVs in a co-ordinated launch from the ground. The corporation said that the UAVs were flying ad hoc networks, sensing and avoiding collision, and demonstrating autonomous group control.

The 2016 video also indicates that the development is aimed at enhancing capabilities in the fields of collaborative intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), target acquisition, distributed wide area surveillance, and saturation attack.

A CETC engineer was quoted by Xinhua as saying that UAV swarms will become "a disruptive force" that will "change the rules of the game".

In the United States a number of programmes are being run by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to develop concepts and applications of UAV/ unmanned aerial systems (UAS) swarms.

Source: http://www.janes.com/article/71624/china-launches-record-breaking-uav-swarm

 

[Cookie Monster]

There has been an interest, research and development in the field of drone swarms for quite some time. China seems to be on the forefront along with US. If development continues at the current pace we could very well see this sort of thing deployed on battlefields in the next decade or so if not earlier. What I'm interested in is how this will affect SAM systems like the S300/S400 and other such systems around the world. Within the drone swarm, there could be a mix of high/low. The higher cost drones being the ones that serve as the brain(the payload being radar, ECMs, and other such avionics). While the low cost ones and more numerous in numbers can be a simple kamikaze like drones that can be guided to their targets by the "brain" drones. Such a swarm attack will not only overwhelm the SAM system by sheer numbers, it would also make it cost prohibitive. The "kamikaze" drones can be made cheaper than each missile of the SAM system. Even shooting down each one effectively(though highly improbable) would still be costly. This concept is similar in a sense to MIRV with decoys and could potentially offer similar benefits at a lower cost.

In my opinion this is something that PAF should consider fielding. Finding unconventional solutions of a rather lower cost to counter something advanced and expensive is where Pak has excelled to some extent.

Ur input/analysis would be welcome @Quwa


@Penguin @HAKIKAT

Please tag others who may be interested in this. All useful feedback would be appreciated.

 

[Beast]

Only China and USA lead in UCAV. Not even Israel come close.

 

[avrham11]

Only China and USA lead in UCAV. Not even Israel come close.

heron tp isnt ucav?

 

[Beast]

heron tp isnt ucav?

The key is "leading". Most countries probably can put an limited UCAV operation. But the operation range ,speed of real time datalink feedback , payload, endurance, altitude and autonomous control plus the accuracy varies degree.

Not to mention network a swarm of UCAV. I am right to say China and US are leading. Israel has already long replaced by China as a leader of military drone. It's a race between China and USA. All others are not even close.

http://www.janes.com/article/71456/idf-buying-mass-market-dji-drones

 

[avrham11]

The key is "leading". Most countries probably can put an limited UCAV operation. But the operation range ,speed of real time datalink feedback , payload, endurance, altitude and autonomous control plus the accuracy varies degree.

Not to mention network a swarm of UCAV. I am right to say China and US are leading. Israel has already long replaced by China as a leader of military drone. It's a race between China and USA. All others are not even close.

our drones arent better then our not even close

 

[The Accountant]

The China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) claims to have set a new record for the number of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) flying in a swarm, the state-owned Xinhua news agency quoted the corporation as saying.

The 11 June news report states that the swarm comprised 119 UAVs, breaking CETC's previous record swarm of 67 UAVs. Xinhua did not mention when or where the event took place.

The size of the mini UAV swarm is greater than that trialled by the US Air Force in October 2016 when three Boeing F/A-18 Hornets deployed a swarm of 103 Perdix micro UAVs, which the US Department of Defense noted was one of the world's largest micro UAV swarms to date.

CETC published a video in 2016 of its fixed-wing UAV swarm prototype, which shows the UAVs in a co-ordinated launch from the ground. The corporation said that the UAVs were flying ad hoc networks, sensing and avoiding collision, and demonstrating autonomous group control.

The 2016 video also indicates that the development is aimed at enhancing capabilities in the fields of collaborative intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), target acquisition, distributed wide area surveillance, and saturation attack.

A CETC engineer was quoted by Xinhua as saying that UAV swarms will become "a disruptive force" that will "change the rules of the game".

In the United States a number of programmes are being run by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to develop concepts and applications of UAV/ unmanned aerial systems (UAS) swarms.

Source: http://www.janes.com/article/71624/china-launches-record-breaking-uav-swarm

Thats a next generation warfare ... i think is still expensive till to date as each drone should have a sensor to coordinate and avoid collusion ...

Now it would be interesting which type of sensors can be used to keep the kamakaze drones cheap so that they can deploy in numbers ... however these being slow will not be left to medium and long range sams and most probably AA guns will be used for defending such type of systems in point defense role ..

There has been an interest, research and development in the field of drone swarms for quite some time. China seems to be on the forefront along with US. If development continues at the current pace we could very well see this sort of thing deployed on battlefields in the next decade or so if not earlier. What I'm interested in is how this will affect SAM systems like the S300/S400 and other such systems around the world. Within the drone swarm, there could be a mix of high/low. The higher cost drones being the ones that serve as the brain(the payload being radar, ECMs, and other such avionics). While the low cost ones and more numerous in numbers can be a simple kamikaze like drones that can be guided to their targets by the "brain" drones. Such a swarm attack will not only overwhelm the SAM system by sheer numbers, it would also make it cost prohibitive. The "kamikaze" drones can be made cheaper than each missile of the SAM system. Even shooting down each one effectively(though highly improbable) would still be costly. This concept is similar in a sense to MIRV with decoys and could potentially offer similar benefits at a lower cost.

In my opinion this is something that PAF should consider fielding. Finding unconventional solutions of a rather lower cost to counter something advanced and expensive is where Pak has excelled to some extent.

Ur input/analysis would be welcome @Quwa


@Penguin @HAKIKAT

Please tag others who may be interested in this. All useful feedback would be appreciated.

 

[Beast]

Thats a next generation warfare ... i think is still expensive till to date as each drone should have a sensor to coordinate and avoid collusion ...

Now it would be interesting which type of sensors can be used to keep the kamakaze drones cheap so that they can deploy in numbers ... however these being slow will not be left to medium and long range sams and most probably AA guns will be used for defending such type of systems in point defense role ..

They are just demonstrator. Imagine you have a swarm of these jet powered drone. What would you think?

 

[Penguin]

The 11 June news report states that the swarm comprised 119 UAVs, breaking CETC's previous record swarm of 67 UAVs. Xinhua did not mention when or where the event took place.

The size of the mini UAV swarm is greater than that trialled by the US Air Force in October 2016 when three Boeing F/A-18 Hornets deployed a swarm of 103 Perdix micro UAVs, which the US Department of Defense noted was one of the world's largest micro UAV swarms to date.

Source: http://www.janes.com/article/71624/china-launches-record-breaking-uav-swarm

The Perdix micro-drones demonstrated advanced swarm behaviors such as collective decision-making, adaptive formation flying, and self-healing. What swarm behaviours did the 119 Chinese drones display?

 

[The Accountant]

They are just demonstrator. Imagine you have a swarm of these jet powered drone. What would you think?

View attachment 406279

View attachment 406280

Yes but then they will not be cheap to be used in numbers against enemy SAM sites in Kamakazee role ...

 

[Beast]

Yes but then they will not be cheap to be used in numbers against enemy SAM sites in Kamakazee role ...

Dismantle enemy air defense or inflict significant damage on enemy armour column without casualties is always cheaper cheaper than anything.

Anyway, this kind of swarming UCAV tactic is most likely applicable to big countries with huge finance like China and USA.

 

[The Accountant]

Dismantle enemy air defense or inflict significant damage on enemy armour column without casualties is always cheaper cheaper than anything.

Anyway, this kind of swarming UCAV tactic is most likely applicable to big countries with huge finance like China and USA.

Agreed ...

 

[DJ_Viper]

heron tp isnt ucav?

He has a valid point. Israel is a leading tech inventor nation. But remember, your size and population is very small. So that sort of becomes a massive bottleneck. You couldn't keep 2000 jets or 3000 UCAV's / UAV's, nor do you need so many due to your size and limited airspace.

However, just like the US, the Chinese and the Indians have huge landmass and airspace. So they can theoretically have air-forces with say 2000 jets and 5000 UCAV's / UAV's. So in other words, as these nations make more and more of these systems and put billions into R&D, they'll surpass Israel one day and will be on-par with the US. The technology becoming COTTS and super computing being readily available, there is only a 10 year lag left in some areas between the top powers and China/India.

 

[Beast]

He has a valid point. Israel is a leading tech inventor nation. But remember, your size and population is very small. So that sort of becomes a massive bottleneck. You couldn't keep 2000 jets or 3000 UCAV's / UAV's, nor do you need so many due to your size and limited airspace.

However, just like the US, the Chinese and the Indians have huge landmass and airspace. So they can theoretically have air-forces with say 2000 jets and 5000 UCAV's / UAV's. So in other words, as these nations make more and more of these systems and put billions into R&D, they'll surpass Israel one day and will be on-par with the US. The technology becoming COTTS and super computing being readily available, there is only a 10 year lag left in some areas between the top powers and China/India.

I applaud Israel achievement despite her small country size and population that it can produced many innovation technology. There is even one time big country like China even need to import tech like drone from Israel.

But big countries with the proper management of government plus the hardworking population will eventually win the final race. There is no shame or loss of honour if Israel gets overtake by China.